The present invention relates generally to wireless telephone handsets and other communication devices, and more particularly to displays for use in such devices.
Wireless communication is becoming increasing popular in a variety of applications. One important application is in business telephone systems, where wireless techniques are being used to allow employees at a given business facility to access their wired desktop telephone lines and corresponding telephone functions from portable handsets. The system in effect allows wired lines to be connected over wireless communication channels to the handsets, such that employees can, for example, field calls arriving at their desktop telephones from anywhere within the facility. This arrangement provides improved employee accessibility, and thus increased efficiency and productivity.
A significant problem in these and other wireless systems relates to configuration of the display and function keys on the portable handset. Since the employees need to carry the handsets with them in order to obtain the full benefit of the system, it is important for the handsets to be compact and lightweight. This would generally require that the handset incorporate a relatively simple display with a limited number of function keys. However, many employee desktop telephones support a large number of lines and functions. For optimal efficiency, a substantial number of these lines and functions should be accessible to a given employee through the portable handset. Moreover, the handset should be capable of displaying the status of the various lines and functions simultaneously. Providing these features using a conventional handset display would typically involve increasing the number of function buttons on the handset, as well as increasing the size of the display. Unfortunately, this increases the size and weight of the handset, making it more difficult to carry. Other conventional approaches require the user to reprogram certain buttons in order to access different desktop lines and functions, which is inefficient and inconvenient for the user. Conventional handsets thus fail to adequately resolve the contention between the need for desktop-like functionality and the need to limit handset size and weight.
A need therefore exists for an improved wireless handset which can provide access to an array of multiple lines and functions similar to those found on a desktop business telephone, without unduly increasing the size and weight of the handset or requiring excessive reprogramming.
A wireless handset or other communication device in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention includes a user interface implemented with a display and a set of select buttons. The display includes an array of identifiers arranged in rows and columns, with each of the identifiers corresponding generally to possible lines or functions accessible to a user of the wireless system. Each of the identifiers has a status indicator associated with it. The lines and functions corresponding to identifiers in the display may be mapped from the lines and functions of a wired telephone system used in the same facility as the wireless handset. In order to access the line or function corresponding to the identifier at the intersection of a particular row and column in the display, the user selects that row and column by pressing row and column select buttons.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, all of the identifiers and the state of their corresponding status indicators may be made visible to the user whenever the handset is on, such that the display provides the multiple line and function status information previously associated only with wired desktop telephones. For example, if an identifier corresponds to a line, its displayed status indicator will generally indicate whether the line is in use by the handset user, in use by another system user, or idle. If an identifier corresponds to a function, its displayed status indicator may indicate whether the handset user has activated or deactivated that function. The status information used in the handset to provide the status indications may be supplied from a switch of a wired telephone system. The handset may also include a line preselection feature which allows a line corresponding to a given one of the identifiers to be preselected prior to filly turning on the handset, such that the preselected line is automatically selected when the handset is fully turned on.
In one possible arrangement of handset selection buttons in accordance with the invention, a single row select button is used in conjunction with multiple column select buttons, with one column select button for each column of identifiers in the display. The user selects a desired line or function in a particular row and column of the display by repeatedly pressing the single row select button until the display indicates that the particular row is selected, and then pressing the corresponding column select button. In other possible arrangements, a single column select button may be used in conjunction with multiple row select buttons, with one row select button for each row of identifiers in the display. The user selects a line or function in a particular column of identifiers by repeatedly pressing the single column select button until the display indicates that the particular column is selected, and then selects a line or function in the particular row by pressing the corresponding row select button. Other arrangements may use single row and column select buttons for respective row and column selection. As previously noted, the display also provides status indications for each line and function identifier, such that a given user can determine from the display which lines are in use by that user, which lines are in use by another user, and which functions are activated or deactivated.
The invention provides a handset or other communication device which can access the large number of lines and functions typically associated with a desktop business telephone without requiring a corresponding increase in the number of buttons on the handset or the size of the handset display. Moreover, the status of all the lines and functions is made visible simultaneously to the user without the need to reprogram function buttons as in conventional wireless handsets. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.